When defenceman Anton Belov was asked if he thought he might have to hone his North American game on the farm in Oklahoma City the first day he walked into Edmonton Oilers’ camp, he shrugged.

“Yes, maybe, but only for a short time,” he said last week, joining camp late due to problems attaining a visa.

Judging by his play in his first two pre-season games, Belov might only be visiting OKC with the rest of the Oilers to play the Dallas Stars Friday night. He looks too good to be an AHL player, at least off his small sampling, and admittedly against somewhat less than full NHL rosters (Vancouver and Winnipeg).

Belov was good against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday and even better on Monday in the 2-1 pre-season win over the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

The 27-year-old Russian played 22-1/2 minutes, assisted on Will Acton’s goal and generally played a strong, confident game, like a guy who’s been in the NHL five years not five minutes.

Belov does have a two-way contract ($950,000 NHL, $75,000 AHL) which makes it easier to send him down than, say, countryman Denis Grebeshkov, who has a one-way, $1.5-million deal as a fellow free-agent signee.

But Belov has looked better than Grebeshkov so far, albeit in a small sample size for Eakins and the other coaches (Grebeshkov has much more NHL experience). Still, Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish looks justified to have signed the Russian world championship player Belov.

“I thought he was awesome tonight,” Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk said. “He’s big, strong and made solid plays. He made a real nice one on the goal (Acton). Biggest adjustment for a guy coming over from there is the change in ice (surface), but he looks good. He’s not flying around taking huge risks to make plays. He made some heads-up passes and one ended up in the back of the net.”

“He’s not going to go end-to-end but you really only need one guy like that on a back-end and I think Justin Schultz might be that guy for us,” Dubnyk said. “And (Philip) Larsen can really move too. Those two guys might be good on the power play. Belov can definitely shoot too. I certainly know that.”

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Edmonton Oilers goalie Jason LaBarbera makes a save during preseason action against the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 21, 2013. LaBarbera will likely start against the New York Rangers on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the Oilers’ final pre-season game at home.

Edmonton Oilers goalie Jason LaBarbera makes a save during preseason action against the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 21, 2013. LaBarbera will likely start against the New York Rangers on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the Oilers’ final pre-season game at home.

Dubnyk gave up a strange goal to Chris Thorburn in the first-period (bad angle) but was outstanding the rest of the way.

He’ll likely watch Jason LaBarbera against the Rangers on Tuesday and get the full game in OKCity Friday.

“I was set for the shot, it hit a stick and the shot was going far-corner. I followed it with my blocker and hit my knob (stick) and went in,” said Dubnyk, who has seen action in 2-1/2 pre-season games thus far this month.

“Obviously, it doesn’t look like a good goal, but I wouldn’t have played it any differently. I’m happy to let it go in pre-season, and hopefully, I don’t get that bad luck when it counts.”

Oilers goalie coach Fred Chabot has worked a long while with Dubnyk in camp.

“Lots of plays around the net, pushing, stopping, simplifying everything, something we’ve been doing for three years but now we’re at the point we can hone down on certain things. I feel really good where I am in the net,” said Dubnyk, who faces a cross-roads season as he tries to emphatically become a No. 1 goalie. He was solid last year (.920 save percentage, just out of the top 10) facing the second most shots. Now, he has to win over a new coach Dallas Eakins and a new GM Craig MacTavish.

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Edmonton Oilers forwards Ryan Smyth, left, and Taylor Hall practise face-offs during training camp in Sherwood Park on Sept. 12, 2013. Expect Hall to centre a line with Smyth and Ales Hemsky in pre-season action against the New York Rangers on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

The Oilers didn’t dress the No. 1 camp line of Taylor Hall, Ales Hemsky and Ryan Smyth against the Jets, but they’ll almost surely play against the Rangers. Boyd Gordon, Nail Yakupov and Linus Omark (a line against the Jets) might sit. Jordan Eberle and David Perron could draw back in as part of the top six forwards, too, after sitting Monday. On defence, Jeff Petry, Grebeshkov, Darnell Nurse and Schultz, who watched Monday, might play.

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